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Considers the role of the information professional in the next century in addition to informational retrieval skills. Covers the need to develop the role as trainer and facilitator of information retrieval. Identifies the need to be able to adapt to change, work closely with IT specialists and specialize in the subject of their industry.

This study arises from a recent school-based professional development (PD) programme conducted for English language teachers (ELTs) in a secondary school in the Kingdom of Bahrain, where a participatory lesson study (PLS) strategy was implemented to develop four ELTs' teaching skills and their senior teacher's leadership. The influence of the PLS on creating a participatory PD experience for the participants was investigated through exploring their perceptions of their professional growth during their PLS experience.

Following a qualitative interpretive approach, a total of eight lesson study cases and 16 meetings were conducted and analysed.

The main factors that influenced the participants' perceptions of their professional growth in PLS were high self-efficacy and confidence; dominancy of their peers; the informality of the PLS practice; and reflective practice. Relatedly, the results revealed critical thoughts about PLS as a means for ELT's self-directed PD in non-native English-speaking contexts.

The study provides an alternative approach to PD that can be offered for ELTs in any ESL/EFL context that focusses on supporting non-native English-speaking teachers' practices by associating theory with practice. This approach has enabled them to gain the practical skills they need and develop their awareness about the theoretical principles of these practices. For the first time, teachers were given the role to act as the trainers and the theorisers of their own teaching practices.

Construction industry and the built environment professions play an important role in contributing to society’s improved resilience. It is therefore important to improve their knowledgebase to strengthen their capacities. This paper aims to identify gaps in the knowledgebase of construction professionals that are undermining their ability to contribute to the development of a more disaster resilient society. The paper also provides a series of recommendations to key actors in the built environment on how to more effectively mainstream disaster resilience in the construction process.

The paper reports the findings of 87 stakeholder interviews with: national and local government organisations; the community; non-governmental organisations, international non-governmental organisation and other international agencies; academia and research organisations; and the private sector, which were supplemented by a comprehensive analysis of key policies related to disaster resilience and management. The findings were validated using focus group discussions that were conducted as part of six organised stakeholder workshops.

The primary and secondary data generated a long list of needs and skills. Finally, the identified needs and skills were combined “like-for-like” to produce broader knowledge gaps. Some of the key knowledge gaps identified are: governance, legal frameworks and compliance; business continuity management; disaster response; contracts and procurement; resilience technologies, engineering and infrastructure; knowledge management; social and cultural awareness; sustainability and resilience; ethics and human rights; innovative financing mechanisms; multi stakeholder approach, inclusion and empowerment; post disaster project management; and multi hazard risk assessment. The study also identifies a series of recommendations to key actors in the built environment on how to more effectively mainstream disaster resilience in the construction process. The recommendations are set out in five key themes: education, policy, practice, research and cross-cutting.

This study is part of an EU funded research project that is seeking to develop innovative and timely professional education that will update the knowledge and skills of construction professionals in the industry and enable them to contribute more effectively to disaster resilience building efforts.

The paper provides an extensive analysis of the gaps in the knowledgebase of construction professionals that are undermining their ability to contribute to the development of a more disaster resilient society. Accordingly, the paper recommends major changes in construction education, research, policy and practice with respect to mainstreaming disaster resilience within the construction process.

Professionals in academic health centers (AMCs) face multiple obligations, such as those from research, teaching and clinical care. The purpose of this study is to explore and develop an understanding about how well findings generated from two previous studies about the influence of multiple obligations on health care personnel fit those within health care associated with academic institutions.

A total of 11 professionals engaged in teaching, research, and clinical work were interviewed. Data from the open‐ended interactive interviews were transcribed and compared with findings from the two previous studies, using modified analytic induction.

Work at an AMC can entail balancing three tasks: research, education, and clinical care. These tasks as well as the different employers associated with them can be a source of conflict. For a group of committed professionals, these conflicts were accepted and balanced as long as they experienced stimulus, autonomy, and variation.

Modified analytic induction, an uncommon analysis method, is useful for comparing findings from previous studies in another context and with different subjects.

Stimulation, autonomy, and variation could play a vital role as driving factors in coping and dealing with the unavoidable presence of multiple obligations in today's health care systems.

Although AMCs combine clinical care, research, and teaching, the intersection of all three has in contrast not been investigated so thoroughly at the individual level.

This study investigates the competencies required for quality management professionals to meet the needs of industry 4.0. The authors use a case study strategy at an electronics manufacturer in southern Malaysia, to adapt their role to be relevant in the industry 4.0 environment. In doing so, this study answers the following four questions: (1) How are the changing technological trends expected to impact the future role of quality in industry 4.0? (2) What are the competencies gap between current and future roles of quality professionals? (3) What are the views and practices related to quality roles? (4) How can the gaps identified be closed to meet the quality challenges of industry 4.0?

The research methods consist of a comprehensive review of literature on the technological trends towards industry 4.0 and the impact on the role of quality and competence that may be required in the future, as well as internal document review on the current roles of quality professionals in an electronics manufacturer in southern Malaysia, to identify the competence gap. Empirical data was collected based on surveys conducted on 64 quality professionals with a response rate of 96.88%. Interviews were conducted on three decision-makers from critical areas in the electronics manufacturer for viewpoints from three different perspectives: finance, operations and talent development.

Quality professionals will require technical competencies to interpret large amounts of data from processes to make strategic decisions, the use of new AR tools and be aware of data security risks. Methodological competencies will be required to use data to identify the source of problems, to access reliable sources of learning and the ability to use new tools for solving complex problems efficiently. Social competencies will be required in communications across multi-sites, suppliers and customers in new collaborative virtual platforms, with the ability to retain tacit and explicit knowledge, in a decentralized environment that will require leadership ability to make decisions. Personal competencies required will be the ability to work in a flexible workplace and time and more frequent work-related changes.

The limitation of the study is based on what the authors currently know of the future, which may not be much for the quality professionals in the electronics manufacturer, who have not been exposed much to the technology yet. The potential for the future landscape to change dramatically with rapid technology changes may also result in a different set of skills for future quality professionals. The quality professionals who were involved in this study were the quality executives, engineers and managers, irrespective of their gender, age, length of service and experience in the field of quality. Therefore, these variables were not taken into consideration for this research.

This research helped to identify the role of quality in industry 4.0 and key competencies that the quality professionals in the electronics manufacturer will require to adapt to their role in industry 4.0. However, based on the questionnaire and the interview comments of key personnel, it can be concluded that quality professionals lack awareness of their new roles in industry 4.0. This could be due to the fact that the new technology is not implemented by quality professionals but by the innovation team based in Singapore headquarters, as was also advised by the operations head.

The benefit of industry 4.0 technology is clearly shown by Philips's new Dutch factory with robotized technology that was able to produce the same output with one-tenth of the workers of its China factory (Rifkin, 2014, chapter 8). Rojko (2017, p. 80) also shared a similar view that industry 4.0 is expected to reduce production costs by 10–30%, logistics costs by 10–30% and quality management costs by 10–20%. The importance of this research can be seen from the findings of “The Future of Jobs” (2018, p. 22), which suggests that the window of opportunity for organizations to leverage the new technology to re-skill is within the period of 2018–2022, in order to enable employees to reach full potential in the high value-added tasks. The electronics manufacturer may need to keep to this timeline to maintain its competitive advantage.

The purpose of this paper was to determine the competence gap of current quality professionals in the electronics manufacturer with the competencies required in industry 4.0. This led to the third objective, to identify the views of stakeholders based on the propositions derived from the gaps identified, to triangulate the findings, to conclude the competency gaps of the current quality professionals in the electronics manufacturer. Finally, the objective of this paper was to make a recommendation on how to prepare the quality professionals in the electronics manufacturer for their role in industry 4.0. The research identified the technical, methodological, social and personal competencies gap of the quality professionals in the electronics manufacturer by looking at the changes expected in industry 4.0 from four aspects, factory (people and process), business, product and customers.

The global higher education (HE) sector is increasingly becoming more competitive and has experienced a significant amount of transformation. Within the last 20 years changes occurred within legal frameworks, governing funding schemes, quality assurance systems and apprenticeship programs for industry across a widening range of HE provisions that support the upskilling of the workforce. This chapter shows that, higher education institutions (HEIs) are constantly seeking alternative ways of developing and consolidating new financial streams (partnering with other HEIs, geographical growth and portfolio development) that allow a sustainable development while maintaining high quality standards. The chapter shows that governments and experts believe enterprise-wide risk management (EWRM) can help HEIs reduce risk but also shows that it is not widely implemented in the HE sector.

This chapter critically discusses the implementation of EWRM in the context of a private HEI case study example with the purpose of ensuring business continuity and sustainable growth, while maintaining and enhancing quality standards. The importance of EWRM is discussed and illustrated through the case study research approach where the author analyzes the importance of risk management starting from preparation to program evaluation. This case study review provides a comprehensive and detailed answer as to how adoption of EWRM has been applied through adopting an international standards approach and utilizing the improvement cycle of preparation, plan, do, check and act. The chapter aligns well with the scope of the book as it provides theoretical and practical insights related to EWRM which is very important in assisting HEI governors and leaders in developing resilient and competitive educational establishments.

In 2014, the UK Government introduced a new form of apprenticeship, the Degree Apprenticeship, which extends across all undergraduate degree and master’s degree levels, maps to professional standards, and which is now embedded within governmental levies of large businesses. The purpose of this paper is to share early experiences of developing these Degree Apprenticeships, and consider the processes deployed to achieve it.

This paper combines desk research with reflections on the experience of developing the new Degree Apprenticeships within higher education institutes (HEIs) and considers the implications of this upon current and emerging HEI practice and research.

There were a number of key resources which facilitated the approval of the Degree Apprenticeship, and these included a pre-existing, flexible work-based learning framework, the associated mechanisms of accreditation, existing professional networks, and a professionally oriented interface between the university, employer and professional body.

As the context is currently at the early stages of implementation, and the policy context is rapidly changing in the context of Brexit, so too will the related scholarship. This means factors others than those highlighted within this paper may emerge over the coming year or two.

There are a number of practical implications for the development of Degree Apprenticeships from this research that are reflected in the findings, and include the development of flexible and collaborative processes, resources and networks.

This paper is one of the first published accounts of the development of a Degree Apprenticeship within the new policy context in the UK.

The purpose of this study is to refine and expand an emerging US government communication model, the government communication decision wheel, by testing the differences between the communication practices of US public sector communicators working for non‐elected officials versus those employed by elected officials.

Drawing from surveys of 781 US government communicators, the study compares the communication practices and influences of government communicators working for elected officials versus non‐elected officials.

The study identifies four significant differences and five similarities in how the public sector environment affects non‐elected and elected officials’ communicators’ public relations practices.

While the study and underlying model focus on US government communication, this study provides valuable theoretical insights. It supports the model's underlying premise that the public sector is unique from the private sector while also further refining the significant differences within the US government sector.

This study helps US government communicators identify unique environmental attributes that affect communication activities in the public sector. It helps identify how these attributes affect communication practices within individual and collaborative contexts. Finally, it helps non‐governmental communicators and communicators outside of the US to understand how the attributes may affect communication practices when they collaborate with government communicators from the four levels of US government as well as with those who work for elected and non‐elected officials.

Despite the critical importance of communication in the public sector, very little research focuses specifically on government communication outside of political communication. The findings provide valuable insights for practitioners and contribute to public relations theory development for the under‐researched public sector.